USA Presidential Election

Debate between Lord Roberts of Llandudno and Baroness Sugg

Monday 9th November 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sugg (Con) [V]]

My Lords, as is standard practice, you can expect the PM to speak to the successful candidate in due course. The embassy has been in touch with the campaign and we will expect a call in due course, as is normal practice.

[Lord Roberts of Llandudno (LD) [V]]

My Lords, we have seen in the United States a change in campaigning technique, with social media becoming very important. President Trump has 88.9 million followers on Twitter. I ask that we in the UK become aware of how necessary it will be to keep an eye on this new campaigning and how important it will be to keep our present broadcasting system going strongly, because it was so effective. I know that it kept us up for many hours, but can we thank the broadcasters—the BBC especially—for all the work they have done and make sure that nothing prevents that sort of coverage in the future?

[Baroness Sugg (Con) [V]]

My Lords, we have seen lots of social media activity during this election, as we do in every election, and indeed we see more in every election that comes along. We have also seen actions taken by social media companies. I agree with the noble Lord that it is incredibly important to make sure that we track this closely and do everything we can to make sure that a free and fair media report in every election. I add my thanks to those of the noble Lord. Like, I am sure, many noble Lords, I was glued to the election coverage at the weekend, and I thank the broadcasters for that coverage.

Covid-19: Access to Vaccine

Debate between Lord Roberts of Llandudno and Baroness Sugg

Thursday 15th October 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sugg (Con)]

My Lords, we are very pleased with the number of countries, including China, that have signed up to the COVAX Facility. The UK has been working hard with our partners across the world on that. Just yesterday I spoke to some of our team in the Caribbean, who have recently helped all the Caribbean sign up to the COVAX Facility. The US continues to be one of the biggest donors to Gavi’s core immunisation programme, which we of course welcome. We continue to encourage the US to join multilateral efforts to support equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines.

[Lord Roberts of Llandudno (LD) [V]]

I welcome very much our co-operation with the World Health Organization, and only hope that the United States might rejoin, possibly after 3 November. We must make sure that any vaccine is tried and tested and not inferior; people are probably trying to take advantage and get some personal benefit by distributing unsuitable vaccines. I also suggest that we need an independent body in the UK that is involved not for political gain but only because of its experience and work over the years in bringing vaccines into being.

[Baroness Sugg (Con)]

I completely agree that we must ensure we have community trust in vaccines, which will be essential to persuade people that taking the vaccine is the right thing to do. In the UK the Vaccine Taskforce is leading this work to ensure that, as and when a vaccine is found, it is safe and that we communicate its effectiveness properly.